I reviewed the first edition of Mark Dvoretsky's eponymous Dvoretsky's Analytical Manual when it first came out in 2008 (and I can't believe it came out five years ago!); unfortunately, the blog where I reviewed it is now defunct. Rather than write another full-scale review, I'll offer a very brief description of what the book is about and who it's for. For those of you who are already...

USCF master Daniel Lowinger has written a book on the 3...Qd8 Scandinavian, and makes a case that it's better than its reputation. 3...Qd6 and 3...Qa5 are more common and score better than the counter-intuitive retreat to d8, but players like GM Nikola Djukic have shown that the latter is viable even in high-level chess. Lowinger is an enthusiastic advocate for the variation, which he has played...

With a bit less enthusiasm after Notre Dame's epic fail a couple of weeks ago against Pitt, we will soldier on and predict their landslide victory today over the BYU Cougars. The demolition starts in about 30 minutes, and will be televised on NBC. (Reading material here.)

Παγκόσμιος πρωταθλητής ο Νορβηγός Μάγκνους Κάρλσεν. Επικράτησε επί του Ινδού Βισβανάθαν Ανάντ με σκορ 6.5-3.5 (+3 =6 -0) στο ματς που διεξήχθη στο Τσενάι της Ινδίας.   Στις συνεντεύξεις, ο Ανάντ παραδέχτηκε πως δεν κατόρθωσε...

Don Dailey, author of the Komodo chess engine, has passed away after a long battle with Leukemia. He left this world November 22, 2013, in Roanoke, Virginia at age 57, just about the same time that Komodo pulled ahead of Stockfish by winning game 2 in the TCEC final. Don started chess programming in the [...]

14-year-old FIDE Master V R Aravindh Chithambaram emerged the champion with a whopping 9/11 after the final round of the Chennai Grandmaster International Open Chess tournament held in celebration of the FIDE World Championship Match 2013 at Nehru Stadium, Chennai here today. Aravindh, for his spectacular performance, takes the winner’s trophy and the cash award [...]

Από τον συνθέτη Carlo DeGranti λάβαμε ειδοποίηση για μια βράβευση στον διαγωνισμό σύνθεσης Mario G. Garcia-65 JT, στην οποία πήρε 1η-2η Εύφημη Μνεία στα τριάρια.ΒράβευσηΣυγχαρητήρια στον κ. DeGranti και καλή συνέχεια!

The Komodo chess engine is off to a brilliant start at the TCEC Superfinal match against Stockfish. The engine by Don Dailey and Larry Kaufmann began with a draw and two wins to take the lead 2,5/0,5. Live games all day long here at the official site / See Komodo and Stockfish analyzing Anand – [...]

Είναι χαρά μου να σας προσκαλέσω στο τουρνουά της χρονιάς "RCA-Open 2013". Θα έχετε την ευκαιρία να εξασκήσετε τις ικανότητές σας και να διεκδικήσετε τα 30+ δώρα( τα οποία περιλαμβάνουν και πολλά τυχερά δώρα) όπου η συνολική...

Ο Κάρλσεν είναι ο νέος παγκόσμιος πρωταθλητής στο σκάκι! Στη φωτογραφία τον βλέπουμε να πανηγυρίζει μέσα στην πισίνα του ξενοδοχείου. Η νέα εποχή στο σκάκι έχει ήδη ξεκινήσει…

Diyan Kostadinov - Project managerDimitar Ivanov - ProgrammerShankar Ram - Operating supportPetya Badjaklieva - DesignerΗ πρώτη εφαρμογή για Σκακιστική Σύνθεση σε smartphone έφτασε!http://kobulchess.com/en/news/7-2011-07-31-17-09-09/402-chess-composition-app-smartphone-chess-composer.htmlΣυγχαρητήρια!

A checkmate, using a King, Knight and Bishop against a lone King appears to be extremely difficult to the beginner. Many chess instructors have asked me why I would even consider introducing such a complex mating system to young novice players. Some instructors have even considered my teaching of this mating pattern as pointless. However, […]

Team compositions

Live games with analysis

Magnus Carlsen is the new world chess champion, achieving this final landmark eight days shy of his 23rd birthday. With a 6-3 lead coming into game 10 he only needed a draw to win the best-of-12 match against (now former world champion) Viswanathan Anand, and he succeeded. Some thought Anand would be amenable to a short draw, but to his credit he played a full game. He tried to liven things up...